William Tai

Venture Capitalist | Technology Investor | Startup Advisor Palo Alto,
California

William Tai is co-founder and chairman of the board of directors of Treasure Data. He is a co-founder of Sangha Capital. Mr. Tai is also a member of the board of directors of Ensemble Communication. He is the co-founder and chairman of the board of directors of Metagood. He is a member of the board of directors of Kickfurther. He is a co-founder and special limited partner in ACTAI Ventures. He is a co-founder of OneOf. He is also an advisor to Stack Capital Group and CrowdClip. He is an advisor and global ambassador at Powerledger. He was a member of the board of directors at Glyde. He was also an advisor at CoinCircle. He is also an advisor at Tango. He was also a partner at MaiTai Global. He is head of the strategy committee, board member and advisor at BitFury. He has served as an advisor at Kickfurther. He is also an advisor at Emercoin. He is an active individual investor and entrepreneur, having served as founding chairman of Treasure Data, board director of BitFury and board director of Voxer. He has served on the board of directors of Scribd. He is also a leading private equity investor in Canva, Shoes of Prey, as well as Tango.me, Tweetdeck/Twitter and Zoom.us. He founded the Silicon Valley office of Charles River Ventures and is an honorary partner supporting Ark, Maxthon and Wish.com on behalf of CRV. He was previously a partner at IVP and was the founding CEO of iAsiaWorks (IPO 2000 through Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley). He was chairman of IPinfusion (Tokyo:4813) and a past board director of 7 listed companies: AWRD EGHT IAWK NPIX TMTA TUNE and IMGO. He serves on the Technology Pioneers Committee of the World Economic Forum and is an Adjunct Professor of Innovation at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. He began his career as a computer chip designer and previously worked at semiconductor company TSMC. He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard. He holds an advisory position at Power Ledger. He is a co-founder of Revel.

Summary

Accomplished venture capitalist with over 30 years of experience funding
transformative startups, having supported 23 companies through successful
public listings. Recognized for early investments in global technology leaders
like Zoom, Canva, and Treasure Data. Passionate about fostering innovation,
entrepreneurship, and sustainable technology solutions.

Professional Experience

Board of Advisors

Harvard Business School June 2023 – Present | Boston, Massachusetts

https://www.hbs.edu/ 

• Serve on the Board of Advisors, contributing strategic insights to the
  prestigious business school

Chairman of the Board, Co-Founder

Treasure Data August 2012 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area

https://www.treasuredata.com/ 

• Co-founded and led Treasure Data through its acquisition by Softbank’s
  ARM Corporation
• Developed a data pipeline infrastructure used by major tech companies
  including FAANG
• Pioneered Fluentd.org, a technology deployed across 100 Million nodes
  globally

Adjunct Professor of Innovation & Economic Development

Curtin University January 2011 – Present | Perth, Australia

https://www.curtin.edu.au/ 

• Creator of Western Australia Mobile App (WAPPS) and OzApp Startup
  Developer competitions
• Focuses on driving innovation and economic development through
  entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial Initiatives Founder & Chairman

ACTAI Global (501(c)3)

https://actai.global/ 

• Established a community of Athletes, Conservationists, Technologists,
  Artists & Innovators
• Supports environmental conservation and economic empowerment
• Created global startup competitions like Extreme Tech Challenge

Investment Portfolio

Recent strategic investments across diverse technology sectors, demonstrating
a keen eye for innovative startups:

• Kiva AI (October 2024)
  • Seed Round
  • Software Development Applications
  • Generating Revenue

• Blaze Technology (October 2023)
  • Business/Productivity Software
  • Generating Revenue
• Fairmatic (January 2023)
  • Insurance Brokers Technology
  • Generating Revenue

• Tract (September 2022)
  • Educational Software
  • Generating Revenue
• Fairmatic (August 2022)
  • Insurance Brokers Technology
  • Generating Revenue
• TAP Network (April 2022)
  • Financial Software
  • Generating Revenue
• Calyptia (March 2022)
  • Business/Productivity Software
  • Generating Revenue
• Fathom
  Communication Software (January 2022)
  • Communication Software
  • Generating Revenue

• Class (July 2021)
  • Later Stage VC
  • Educational Software
  • Generating Revenue
• Kickfurther (April 2021)
  • Seed Round
  • Financial Software
  • Generating Revenue

Education

Harvard Business School

https://www.hbs.edu/ 

Master of Business Administration, Finance & Economics

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

http://illinois.edu/ 

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Honors

• Graduated with Honors
• Member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu

Skills

• Venture Capital
• Startup Investing
• Technology Innovation
• Entrepreneurship
• Strategic Advisory
• Impact Investing
• Data Infrastructure
• Blockchain Technologies

Certifications & Recognitions

• Personal Angel backer of 3 top 10 companies on CNBC’s 50 Top Disruptor
  List (2022)
• Involved in startups exceeding $1 Trillion in aggregate market value
  (2021)
• Founding Chairman of multiple technology conferences and summits

Philanthropic Focus

• Ocean conservation
• Technological solutions for global challenges
• Supporting entrepreneurship in emerging markets

Professional Network

– LinkedIn Connections: 500+

– Professional Followers: 22,950

https://linktr.ee/kitevc